Duranbah Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, grab your wettie, ‘cause here’s the skinny on Duranbah. The next fortnight looks like a long, flat road with a couple of gutters at the start. We’re looking at a serious dry spell, with the first real surf not showing up until the 16th, and even that’s a messy one. Honestly, this is a stretch where you might be better off checking the tide pools than paddling out.

The opening week is a total bust. Friday the 11th has the biggest swell of the period, around 8ft, but it’s coming with a cross-off wind that, while it’ll keep the surface clean, isn't enough to save a marginal, questionable day. The energy is there, moderate at 793, but the quality drops off a cliff by the afternoon. From then on, it’s just a slow bleed. We’ve got small, weak surf for days. The swell from the SSE is just dribbling in, with the energy dropping from 367 down to a pathetic 67 by the 15th. This is all well below 5ft and often under 3ft. The winds, even the light ones, are mostly cross or cross-on, chopping up what little is out there. If you’re jonesing for a paddle, you’ll get a workout, but you won’t be getting any rides worth talking about. This break is just not doing its job right now. It’s a bleak run.

We finally see a pulse fill in around Wednesday the 16th, but it’s a bit of a cruel joke. The swell jumps to 7ft, but with a period of only 6 seconds, it’s all closeouts and windslop. Add in 25 km/h cross-shore winds and rain showers, and you’ve got a full-on messy, poor surf situation. The energy reads moderate at 305, but it’s all raw power with no form. This isn’t a surf for anyone but the most desperate. There’s a bit of a bump on Thursday the 17th too, around 6ft, but again, the 7-second period means it’s going to be lumpy and unshapeable. The energy is a moderate 402, but the wind is cross-shore, making it a chaotic pile-up. The setup is all wrong for this river-mouth break. With the swell size and these winds, it honestly looks more interesting for the kite surfers than us paddle surfers.

After that, it’s back to the desert. From Friday the 18th all the way to the 26th, there’s just nothing. The swell heights are consistently under 3ft, and the energy readings are weak, mostly in the double digits. It’s a whole lot of nothing. There’s a glimmer on the 21st with a 4ft NNE swell, but it’s onshore and short-period, so it’s poor. Another on the 26th, 4ft from the north, but again, the wind is up and the period is tiny. It’s a hard drought. For this area, this kind of blank run is pretty normal, so it’s not a shock, but it doesn’t make it any easier to take. The forecasts can and do change, but right now, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Keep an eye on it, but plan for some flat spells.

Rusty.

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